New York Governor Kathy Hochul's $233 billion budget proposal is coming under scrutiny from elected officials.
Hochul's spending plan, unveiled in Albany Tuesday, looks to close a $4.3 billion deficit with no increase in income taxes and no cuts to programs.
Republican state Senator Jim Tedisco of the 44th district gives the governor a bit of praise.
"One of the positive things is my bill. She put it into the budget. S.7688," said Tedisco.
The legislation comes in response to the September 30th abduction of a 9-year-old girl from Moreau Lake State Park. Tedisco says no security cameras were present when the kidnapping took place. The bill requires New York’s 180 state-run parks and campgrounds be equipped with security cameras that can identify the license plate, make and model of any vehicle entering or exiting the facilities, as well as record the image of any person walking into or out of the grounds. The measure is sponsored in the Assembly by Rotterdam Democrat Angelo Santabarbara.
Tedisco agrees with Hochul that affordability and public safety should be the focus, but disagrees with parts of the plan.
"The best way to define it was 'Hochul's Hocus Pocus,' because she would have to be the sleight of hand magician as good as Houdini to balance this particular budget in the way she has presented it, which she admitted is, we have $4 billion of increased spending. That's a part of the reason why people are leaving the state of New York because of taxes to get that $4 billion of increased spending. But we also have a $4.2 billion deficit. That's $8.2 billion that's not accounted for right now. She'd have to pull the biggest rabbit out of a hat, financial rabbit out of a hat," said Tedisco.
Meantime, Democratic Assemblyman Phil Steck of the 110th district is skeptical that programs Hochul promotes in the budget proposal can be funded without any increase in revenue.
"So in 1981, we started rebating, the proceeds of the stock transfer tax back to Wall Street," Steck said. "And we are giving up $14 to $16 billion of revenue by doing that, and I personally just do not see how you can have a truly progressive budget on economic issues without ending that practice. The problem that we have is New Yorkers, if you can't raise income tax, because the wealthy New Yorkers do have the ability to leave to avoid that tax, but they can't avoid something like the stock transfer tax, because all the major securities markets are New York, you can move to Tennessee, but you still have to trade in New York. So I think we have a big budget hole. And this budget is not doing anything to fill it."
Steck finds food insecurity and rising housing costs concerning.
"I have not seen any of the programs that the governor talks about, that have really been successful in addressing these issues. For example, I don't think putting an end to exclusionary zoning is going to suddenly create a massive market, in low cost housing. You know, in a lot of things, in our economy, it's like a democracy. But it's a democracy where some people have a lot more votes than others. And if you have votes that you can use to buy luxury housing, the market is going to respond to that. The people at the low end don't have enough dollars don't have enough votes in the system, to inputs it to produce affordable housing. So you really have to make a commitment to find a way to build it. And I don't see that the governor's initiative is doing that," said Steck.
The city of Albany is in line to receive $15 million in capital funding, which Democratic Mayor Kathy Sheehan appreciates.
"I will still be at tin cup day because we want to make sure that the funding stays. I'm so grateful to the governor for really recognizing and acknowledging the case that we made for many, many years with respect to, just basic fairness. We're the capital. 64% of our property is not taxable, most of that is owned by the state. And so we are also advocating for a more permanent solution. I don't want the mayors that comes after me to have to continue to have sort of the uncertainty of will it be in the budget, or won't it be in the budget. And so we are going to be advocating to make some permanent changes to the way that the state pays us for state owned property. And I look forward to engaging in that conversation as well," Sheehan said.
Hochul and fellow Democrats who control the legislature face an April 1st deadline to finalize the budget.
